On the Edge
by my crooked heart
Summary: After the announcement of the Quarter Quell, Prim just isn't sure if she can handle losing her sister again. Rory/Prim, set during Catching Fire. T to be safe. Please R&R!


_This is a oneshot focusing on Rory and Prim. It's set just after the announcement of the Quarter Quell and it deals with Prim's reaction and how Rory comforts her. Prim and Rory may be a little OOC because I wrote this at 7:00AM after no sleep, but fingers crossed it turned out okay. Please enjoy it and **please** review!_

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><p><strong>On the Edge<strong>

I find her in the Meadow.

The entire district is up in arms about the Quarter Quell. The idea of sending Katniss back into the Arena is repulsive – even more so when you consider who her potential opponents are. Peeta, the boy she claims to love. Haymitch, the mentor who was there for her even when it didn't seem like it. However, the rules of the Quell are clear, and although the twist seems more than a little coincidental, there's nothing that any of us can do about it. As horrible as I feel about Katniss leaving again, she's not at the front of my mind right now. Prim is.

The last time Katniss left, Prim nearly lost it. I wasn't far behind – watching her fall apart was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I tried so hard to keep her sane, but the only thing that really worked was when Katniss won the Games and came back home. Then, Prim slipped back into her old self. Mostly. She was a little older, a little more serious. Still, she was Prim again.

And now... well, my heart is thudding as I approach her in the Meadow.

She's sitting by a little pond, staring into the water with a pensive expression. Tears coat her pale cheeks. I inch closer, hardly daring to breathe. As I watch, she dips one bare toe into the water. She shivers and draws back, though a moment later she plunges her entire foot in. My eyes widen as she shuffles to the edge of the pond, sliding both legs into the water, tugging at the hem of her dress to expose more skin. I feel like something terrible is about to happen.

Prim slips into the water.

"Prim!" I yelp, racing forwards. She's sinking like a stone, and even though I know she'll come bobbing back to the surface at any second, panic washes over me. I grapple with the buttons on my shirt and toss it the ground before sliding out of my pants and racing to the water's edge. Prim's hair is floating around her, a cloud of golden strands. I take a deep breath and jump into the water.

It's freezing cold. My body seizes up and I realize why Prim hasn't surfaced yet. She's holding onto a root sticking out from the edge of the pond, her face screwed up in concentration. She's putting all of her energy into staying underwater. She's trying to drown herself.

I swim toward her, kicking my feet furiously. Her eyes fly open when I grasp her arm. She blinks and then scowls at me furiously, mouthing something. _Let go._ I ignore her and yank at her arm, not caring if I hurt her. All that matters is getting Prim to the surface. She struggles against my grip but I'm stronger than her. I manage to drag her to the shore, but I'm worried it's too late. Her eyes have fluttered shut. Her skin is paler than usual – I'm not sure if she's breathing.

I roll Prim onto her back, staring at her with bated breath.

"Prim?" I whisper. "Please, please be OK, Prim."

When she still doesn't breathe, I lean forward, straddle her hips and pinch her nose shut. I do what Gale showed me to do when someone's lost oxygen – I place my lips on Prim's and breathe air into her lungs. I've thought about kissing Prim for so long, but this is different. This isn't some tender, romantic moment. This is a desperate attempt to save the life of a girl I'm in love with.

Finally, her eyes flutter open. She starts coughing. I lean back with relief, watching as a stream of water shoots out of her mouth. Her cheeks flush with colour. When she's gotten over her coughing fit, she looks up at me, glaring with her pretty blue eyes.

"What did you do that for?" she demands. I blink.

"What did _I_ do that for?" I repeat, bemused. "Prim. I'm not the one who tried to drown myself." She flinches.

"That was my choice, Rory. My business. Not yours."

"Is that what you think?" I reply, my voice cracking. She stares at me, unblinking. "Listen to me, Prim. I know that you're upset about Katniss. You're not the only one. The entire district is hurting over this. How do you think Gale feels? Peeta? They're both in love with her, you know, but you don't see them throwing themselves into a pond. They're trying to be strong for Katniss's sake. How do you think she would feel if you had died? How do you think I'd feel?"

She looks at me for a long time. I stare right back, inwardly marvelling about how different she is to the Prim I used to know. The old Prim would have burst into tears after my speech. The old Prim would have hugged me and apologized. The old Prim wouldn't even have tried to do what she did.

Eventually, Prim speaks. And it's not what I was expecting.

"I don't know, Rory. Why don't you tell me how you'd feel?"

I freeze. "Pardon?"

She doesn't repeat the question. She just stares at me with those impenetrable blue eyes. There are drops of water clinging to her eyelashes. I take a deep breath.

"I'd be crushed," I say simply. I figure that I have nothing to lose, so I plough ahead. "Prim... for as long as I can remember, I've been looking out for you. It seemed like the natural thing – Gale and Katniss have always been attached at the hip, it made sense that we'd be close too. I used to think of you like a little sister. And as we got older, I guess I realized that I didn't think of you like a little sister anymore. I don't know exactly what changed, but something did. Being around you stopped being easy and started being frustrating. I was afraid to be around you in case I did something wrong. And then last year, when Katniss was in the Games... when she and Peeta got together and Gale was so hurt, I decided that I never wanted to feel like that. I couldn't stand the thought of someone else being with you. If you were ever going to be with anyone, I wanted it to be me."

She's still staring at me. I continue, words spilling out of my mouth before I can stop them.

"So while Katniss was in the Arena I tried to look after you. It hurt, seeing you in so much pain. I tried so hard to make you feel better and nothing worked, so when Katniss came back and you got better, I backed off. You needed your family."

"I remember that," she interrupts softly. "And we had to pretend that we were cousins."

A smile tugs at my lips. "Yeah. That was the hardest thing of all. I had to back off because Katniss and Gale had to pretend they were related. But even that was OK because I could see you getting better. I was alright with being your friend as long as it meant you were alright. Tonight when the Quell was announced... well, I knew you'd need me again. And when I saw what you were about to do, it nearly killed me. You can't leave me, Prim. You just can't."

She's silent for a long time. Eventually she meets my eyes again, leans forward and pulls my head down for a kiss. I stiffen, hardly able to believe what's happening. When she pulls away, she's smiling.

"Rory," she whispers, leaning her forehead against mine. "All you had to do was say 'I love you'."

She kisses me again. I thread my fingers through her golden hair, tugging her closer to me. Soon, I know, we'll have to talk about what she tried to do. We'll probably have to go back to our pretence of being cousins, for Katniss's sake. For now though, we're Rory and Prim, just two teenagers in a Meadow, sharing tentative kisses. And for now, that's enough.

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><p><em>*tear* I love those two.<em>


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